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1 / 03 / 09 /// TOKYO MOROSE PRESS
Look at that, 2009. There's been a bit of buzz surrounding our recent Tokyo Morose release lately. Vital Weekly from the Netherlands had this to say about the album:
"Seven great songs in thirty minutes - it would have been a great piece of vinyl. Easily the most accessible release of the week, and for me, also one of the best of this week. Much pleasure in hearing this, indeed: a whole lot!"
You can read the entire review here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/657.html
Scroll down the page a bit to find it. Vital Weekly put out a podcast of music every week, and they were kind enough to start podcast #657 with the Tokyo Morose track Here's the Man. You can download that podcast with this link: http://www.vitalweekly.net/657.mp3
Finally, if you missed the band's live studio performance on WYCE radio last month, Sean at Andrasklang has put the entire thing up on his site, and you can download it as an mp3 right here: tokyo_morose_wyce_performance.mp3
Thanks...
12 / 22 / 08 /// THING THAT HAPPEN IN THE WORLD, PART 2
Happy holidays. Here are some promo glossies.
12 / 16 / 08 /// SQR014 - TOKYO MOROSE - SPECIFIC OCEAN
Today we're proud to present the debut album by Tokyo Morose, Specific Ocean. This has been a big project for us, and it has inspired many exciting collaborations and new artistic possiblities. You can download the entire album as a zip file, along with a set of alternative mixes and other assorted goodies, by clicking on SQR014 over to the right, under the "Downloads" heading ------->
Track Listing:
1. Lazy Boys & Girls
2. Hump Full of Glitter
3. Women Who Can't Say No
4. Cover Up For Gramps
5. Legal Bedroom
6. One Wheel Appeal
7. Here's the Man
Tokyo Morose was formed in early 2007 by Trevor Edmonds and Tim Warren, both of whom have previously released solo material on Square Root. The band's sound came into focus when Trevor and Tim were joined by Erin Lenau later in 2007. With three members, the band has been able to explore interlocking melodies and gradually shifting instrumentation within its work, centered around a core of pump organ, viola, cello, drums, and acoustic guitar.
The Specific Ocean EP, recorded in the summer of 2008, represents the range of material that the band has been working with, moving from the twenty-first century chamber music of "Legal Bedroom" to the folk/disco vocal conclusion of "Here's the Man." Various instrumental embellishments appear almost out of nowhere, ranging from the subtle drum machine of "Hump Full of Glitter" to the choir on "One Wheel Appeal."
The seven pieces on the album fit together to create a pastoral, nostalgic set of songs -- an album combining gentle escapism and subtle melancholy, both looking back at the past and nodding towards the future.
The album was produced by good friend Sean Patrick of the Andras Klang label. Indeed, we're presenting Specific Ocean as a joint release with Andras. Sean's input during the recording process was invaluable in shaping the finished piece. Sean also put together a set of alternative versions of the band's songs, and these are included in the album download as a second disk. These alternative versions also include a remix of "Here's the Man" by Cantilever, who released his Idalis/Hadalis EP on Square Root Records last month. The remix explores the epic sense of longing and tension lurking under the surface of the original.
So download the album and tell us what you think. You can also buy a limited edition version of the album on CD, featuring both the Specific Ocean EP and the alternative mixes housed in a hand-assembled cardboard sleeve and accompanied by a commemorative linoleum cut print. What are you waiting for?
12 / 10 / 08 /// TOKYO TUESDAY
As you may be aware, the debut album from Tokyo Morose, entitled Specific Ocean, will be released on this very website next Tueday, December 16. This long-awaited recording is a project that we're particularly fond of, because it been a part of quite a few people's lives for the past year, and we're excited to let you hear the results. So be sure to check in next Tuesday and download the album. In the meantime, you can hear the band performing on WYCE 88.1 FM in Grand Rapids tomorrow afternoon at around 4:15pm.
12 / 5 / 08 /// TOKYO MOROSE ON THE RADIO
Tokyo Morose will be performing live on WYCE, 88.1 FM in Grand Rapids, this Thursday (December 11) at 4:15pm. The band will be playing a couple of songs in the studio and having a little chat with show host Pete Drover in anticipation of the release of their new album, Specific Ocean. That album, by the way, is slated for release on December 16.
So if you're in the Grand Rapids area on Thursday afternoon, why not crank the old office radio dial to 88.1 FM and have a listen? We'll also be documenting the broadcast with photos and such, and I'm sure we'll get our hands on a recording at some point. Should be good....
12 / 3 / 08 /// LIVE SPECTRAL VIDEOS
Spectral Mornings performed at Scene Metrospace in Lansing over the summer. Someone was kind enough to film the performance, and you can see a couple of the songs on YouTube by clicking on these links:
Drum Song (Excerpt) on YouTube
Spring Rain on YouTube
11 / 25 / 08 /// SQR013 - CANTILEVER - IDALIS/HADALIS
Today we're excited to present Idalis/Hadalis, a new recording from Cantilever. This is Cantilever's third release for Square Root Records, following the Mina single and the Memory Loss EP.
Idalis/Hadalis serves as an experiment of sorts. While previous Cantilever work was more pop-based in structure, Idalis/Hadalis consists of four ten-minute pieces, exploring themes of juxtaposition, simultaneous playback, and the way blocks of music can be manipulated indefinitely in the current digital enviroment.
The album consists primarily of two pieces, "Idalis" and "Hadalis," each ten minutes long. The two songs were created as one single, multi-layered composition. Through the use of tone and intensity, this composition expressed a basic narrative of rising action, crescendo, and falling action. When the composition was completed, it was separated into two distinct pieces by adding and removing certain layers of sound.
The result is two unique pieces of music that share a common compositional foundation. The pieces exist in tandem, as opposite expressions of the same basic structure. The third track on the album, "Idalis/Hadalis," consists of "Idalis" and "Hadalis" playing simultaneously, with one track panned subtly to the left and the other to the right. This creates a striking sense of juxtaposition, allowing elements of each piece to interact and create a full, panoramic sonic environment.
The fourth and final piece on the album, "Hadalis/Idalis," again features the two tracks playing at the same time, but in this piece the two tracks have been broken into pieces and rearranged, almost completely at random. This introduces the idea of timing as a factor in the piece, allowing the idea of contrast to manifest itself as a juxtaposition of elements in terms of time, instead of just in terms of sound or timbre. The effect is a fractured narrative, or a set of infinite miniature narratives.
The album can be downloaded as a zip file by clicking on the SQR013 link to the right.
We also have a limited quantity of Idalis/Hadalis on CD, packaged in a beautiful full-color gatefold cardboard package. These are available for five dollars, and you can purchase them with your credit card or via paypal by using the "CD Releases" link to the right.
We hope you enjoy Idalis/Hadalis -- we've enjoyed putting this package of exciting material together for you. Let us know what you think.
11 / 21 / 08 /// NEW MUSIC NEXT WEEK
We're proud to announce that we'll be releasing a new work from Cantilever next week, entitled Idalis/Hadalis.
The album, featuring four ten-minute pieces, explores issues of juxtaposition, narrative, randomness, and rearrangement. While Cantilever's previous Square Root releases have been more song-based, Idalis/Hadalis is somewhat more cerebral, examining the ways in which digital music can be manipulated in modular forms and the ways in which digital textures can create new contexts for similar material.
We're very excited about this release -- be sure to visit the site next week to download a digital copy. It will also be available as a CD.
In other news, you may have noticed that we've redesigned the site a little bit. We've tried to streamline the download area to the right, and now you can easily see all of our releases in a nice list. Just click on a release to download the entire album as a zip file, including artwork and other extras. We're also going to be streaming music from the site, so you can see just what we have to offer. Let us know what you think.
Finally, don't forget about the Tokyo Morose album release party in Grand Rapids tomorrow, where you can get your hands on an advance copy of the new album...
11 / 15 / 08 /// TOKYO MOROSE ALBUM RELEASE PARTY
If you find yourselves in the Grand Rapids area next Saturday, November 22, why not join us to celebrate the unveiling of Specific Ocean, the debut album from Tokyo Morose?
The album release party will take the form of a house party on Greenfield Avenue. You'll be able to pick up a special pre-release copy of the new album, as well as a limited edition woodcut print and some other goodies. Tokyo Morose will be performing, along with Sean Patrick of AndrasKlang, and local psychedelic drone outfit Moss Folk. The show starts at 8.
11 / 9 / 08 /// DRUM FILM
If you take a look at andrasklang.com today, you can see a short film clip from a recent Spectral Mornings recording session, put together by Sean Patrick using some interesting algorithms.
11 / 5 / 08 /// NEW THINGS
Hello. We hope you're well. We certainly are. We thought we'd take this opportunity to take a look at what Square Root has planned for the next few months. As we alluded to a few weeks ago, we have some very exciting releases coming up in the near future. Take a look:
SQR013: Cantilever - Idalis/Hadalis
Cantilever follows up his Memory Loss EP with an experiment of sorts, dealing with questions of juxtaposition, narrative, layers, light and dark, randomness, and reorganization. The usual stuff, then....
SQR014: Tokyo Morose - Specific Ocean
We're very excited about the debut album from three-piece band Tokyo Morose, in which Square Root steps away from the computer a bit and embraces cellos, violas, pump organs, and so forth. Twenty-first century chamber music crossed with a bit of folk pop.
SQR015: Centre - Another Year
Square Root's man from northern Michigan gives us his first new recordings since the beginning of the label. Exquisite pop, dubby shoegaze, post-punk ambience. Absolutely impeccable.
We can't wait to let you hear all this new music -- the first will be appearing on this site at the end of this month, in both digital and CD format.
All this, and Spectral Mornings will be performing in Marquette in January 2009 for the first time in over three years. Yes indeed....
10 / 15 / 08 /// PLANS.
Hello. We hope those of you who have downloaded our latest releases have enjoyed them. We just wanted to let you know that we have quite a few interesting projects lined up for the next few months.
Believe it or not, we currently have releases planned up to SQR018 or 019 or so. Some are a bit more tentative than others, but it's enough to make this one of the most exciting times for us since the label began in 2005. We're aiming on releasing something new every six to eight weeks, including a new Cantilever EP, the Tokyo Morose debut, and the long-awaited Spectral Mornings album.
We also have some other projects in the works, including some collaborative recordings that we want to start "rolling out" in 2009. We've been dabbling in other media too lately, including film and publications. We have a lot of ideas, you see, and we can't wait to share them.
We're also going to move back towards physical releases. At this point, it seems like no one likes the humble little CD anymore, but we'd like to think that someone out there still enjoys holding an artifact in their hands. We pride ourselves on our handmade and alternative packaging and our artwork, so we want to start finding new ways to deliver them to our listeners. All our music will still be available to download from this site and store on your favorite portable listening device, of course, for all you jogging enthusiasts....
As always, we welcome comments and suggestions at info@squarerootmusic.com.
9 / 30 / 08 /// SQR012 - CARTESIAN KIRLIAN
Following from last week's single release, today we present the new Miracle Baby album, Cartesian Kirlian. The album, which was almost entirely recorded over the span of two days, features eleven pieces, including the title track from last week's release, Thornapple Honeycomb.
The Miracle Baby project serves as an outlet for improvisation, collaboration, and fast-paced creation, and, as such, it has been quite interesting to track its progress over the past few months. The first Miracle Baby release, available to download from Andras Klang, was a fifteen minute EP full of filtered drums and quick sonic experiments. The Cartesian Kirlian album builds on that foundation but goes even further into the realms of post-punk and ambient piano work, touching on krautrock and psychedelia in the process. If you enjoy the works of Broadcast and Stereolab, or, indeed, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (as the Miracle Baby participants certainly do), you may find Cartesian Kirlian to your liking.
Even though the album was recorded under tight time constraints, the emotional gamut of the pieces contained within is quite remarkable. So, we encourage you to download it and take a listen for yourselves. Alternatively, you can e-mail us at info@squarerootmusic.com to obtain a CD copy, housed in handmade packaging created from pages out of an architecture book.
Track Listing:
1. Plan View
2. Sun Cameo
3. Shut-Eye Schooner
4. Thornapple Honeycomb
5. Ring Modulated Trish Party
6. Smooth Kermit
7. Loose Fiction
8. Bode Well Filters
9. Calico Clipper
10. Les Enfants Encroyable
11. Axonometric View
9 / 22 / 08 /// SQR011 - THORNAPPLE HONEYCOMB
Good evening... Now that I have returned from a two-week sojourn to the old world, Square Root news updates can continue.
Today we're proud to present the release of a new single entitled "Thornapple Honeycomb" from our shadowy supergroup, Miracle Baby. This is the first of many joint releases that we're undertaking with our sister label, Andras Klang.
Thornapple Honeycomb included three songs that were recorded in one weekend in August. They tend to skew in a more electronic direction, but there are a few little audio surpises here and there.... This three-track single is a prelude to a new Miracle Baby album, which will be available later this week. For more information, you can point yer internet browsers at andrasklang.com. As usual, you can download the entire EP and its artwork as a zip file by clicking on the link over on the right. Enjoy...
Track Listing:
1. Thornapple Honeycomb
2. Mathbox
3. Coxeter-Dynkin Super Ohm
9 / 5 / 08 /// LIVE HAPPENINGS
We've got two rather distinct Square Root related live performances coming up later this month. First, Conifer Rock and timwarrenmusic will be performing at an event affectionately entitled Electro Clash at the Dawn of a New Day cafe in Saginaw on Friday, September 19. This will be the first live Conifer Rock show for quite some time, perhaps since he was known under his Aif pseudonym, and you can look forward to some quite radical arrangements of his recent recorded work. This will also be timwarrenmusic's first show since joining us on our Square Root adventure.
Then, on September 20, the one and only MiracleBaby will be making its debut live performance at Cafe Ambrosia in Ann Arbor. You'll be able to marvel at the wonders of MiracleBaby's founding members performing songs from their recent release on Andrasklang, some new improvised pieces, and a few interesting surprises....
Why not make a weekend of it and attend both shows, in a sort of midwestern tour, if you will?
9 / 4 / 08 /// SOME PICTURES.
Here are a couple of pictures from a recent Tokyo Morose performance in Bay City, as well as a rather impressive architectural structure we encountered whilst adventuring in Kalamazoo the other week. The Tokyo Morose EP and related materials are coming along nicely -- the next couple of months are going to be rather exciting.
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